Cellular steel floor



Oct. 25, 1960 w. L. EDGAR CELLULAR STEEL FLOOR 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 FiledAug. 31, 1955 INVENTOR.

William L. Edgar BY ATTORNEY I Unite Patented Oct. 25, 1960 2,957,555CELLULAR STEEL FLOOR William L. Edgar, Vanport, Pa., assignor to H. H.Robertson Company, Pittsburgh, Pa., a corporation of Pennsylvania FiledAug. 51, 1955, Ser. No. 531,730 1 Claim. (Cl. 189-34) This inventionrelates to a building construction and more particularly to a cellularsteel floor.

The invention has for an object to provide a novel and improved cellularsteel floor embodying multi-cellular floor units having a plurality ofspaced and longitudinally extended cells forming potential wiredistributing cells and in which provision is made for connecting theunits end to end in a novel, simple, economical and eflicient manner.

A further and more specific object of the invention is to provide anovel and improved cellular steel floor of the character specifiedhaving end joints assuring positive alignment of the cells of connectedunits and which are adapted to permit longitudinal adjustment of theunits relative to each other whereby to accommodate irregularities inthe lengths of the units and to compensate for minor variations in fieldconditions during the erection of the flooring.

With these general objects in view and such others as may hereinafterappear, the invention consists in the cellular steel floor hereinafterdescribed and particularly defined in the claims at the end of thisspecification.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of two cellular floor units showndisconnected and illustrating the present end joints;

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the cellular floor units shown inassembled relation; 7

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the connected end joints shown in Fig. 2; V

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a floor unit showing the connectingjoint structure at one end of the unit; and

Figs. 5 and 6 are cross sectional views taken on the lines 55 and 66respectively of Fig. 3. e

In general the present invention contemplates a cellular metal floorunit for use in the erection of a load supporting and wire distributingfloor of the type illustrated in the United States Patents Nos.1,855,082 and 1,867,433, and in particular comprises an improvement inthe cellular steel floor illustrated and described in the United Statespatent to Grafton, No. 2,694,475. During the erection of such floors theunits are laid end to end, preferably being supported upon steelstructural members, such as girders, so that the joints between the endsof adjacent units come over the girders and so that the cells of oneunit cooperate with and form extensions of the cells of a second unit toprovide a plurality of continuous ducts or conduits extending across thebuilding and through which wiring for electrical service of varioussorts may be drawn.

In the erection of such prior cellular metal floors it has been thepractice to lay successive flooring units end to end in substantiallyabutting relation. Such practice required that the component sheets besubjected to a resquaring operation in the manufacture thereof after therolling operation forming the corrugations therein. The resquaringoperation was eflected by a transverse shear at each end of thecorrugated sheet in order that the ends be perfectly square to provide asubstantially tight seam between the abutting ends of the flooring unitswhen erected. Such resquan'ng practice resulted in a substantial wasteof material in the form of scrap and also required the services ofseveral workers in handling the sheets and in controlling the shearingoperation.

In accordance with the present invention provision is made for joiningthe ends of the cellular metal units in nesting and overlapping relationin a manner such that no portions of the ends of the units are requiredto be in abutting engagement and whereby the units maybe adjustedlongitudinally relative to each other during the erection thereof toaccommodate slight variations in the length. of the units and tocompensate for minor variations in field conditions. Thus, in practicethe aforesaid resquaring operation may be eliminated resulting insubstantial savings in material and labor in the production of the unitsand also eliminating the need for maintaining exact tolerances in thelengths of the units. The novel structure of the end joints of thepresent cellular metal floor is also such as to maintain substantiallythe full cross sectional area of metal at the joints so as to maintainthe load bearingtproperties unimpaired at the ends of the units and alsoserves to stiffen the joints against accidental damage. in transitor byhandling during the erection of the floor. The present structure alsoinsurespositive alignment. of the individual cells of the units andprovides substantially smooth internal surfaces at the joints tofacilitate their use as raceways for wire pulling. I t

. Referring now to the drawings, 10 represents one type of cellularmetal floor unit which comprises amulticellular unit formed byassembling and uniting together, preferably by welding, an uppercorrugated sheet :12 and a lower flat sheet 14 to provide a unitha-vingin eifect a series of closely spaced parallel hollow beams or cells 16.In erecting the floor the individual building units extend between thestructural steel supporting elements of the building with the ends ofthe units resting on and preferably welded to the same, and as hereinshown, these structural elements comprise girders 18, a plurality ofunits being laid end to end forming continuous elongated cellsparticularly useful as potential wiring cells. Adjacent units may belaid side by side and connected in interlocking relation by thecooperation of marginal lip portions 20, 22 formed on opposite sides ofthe lower assure positive alignment of the individual cells of the unitsand in a manner such as to permit longitudinal adjustment of one floorunit relative to the other during the erection thereof. 7

In the illustrated embodiment of the invention the walls of thecorrugations forming the cells 16 at the leading .end 24 are preferablyoffset or expanded to receive the non-offset and preferably straightwall portions of the corrugated sheet at the trailing end 26 of an'adjacent unit. Thus, the upper walls 28 of. the cells at the leading end24 are oifsetupwardly, and the side walls 30, 32 of the cells are olfsetoutwardly, the lower walls or connecting flanges 34 between thecorrugations being also offset upwardly, the olfsets preferably beingsub-' stantially equal to or slightly more than the thickness of themetal and extending a substantial distance back' from the leading end.The lower flat sheet 14 is cut back at the leading end 24 a distancesubstantially equal to the length of the oifset portions as shown. 7 Thecorrugated sheet 12 at the trailing end 26 of each unit is preferablyfree of ofiset portions, and' the lower flat sheet- 14 is substantiallyflush with the end of the corrugated sheet at the trailing end.

With this construction it will be seen that in erecting the fioor theleading end 24 of one unit may be placed into position over the straightor non-offset trailing end 26 in nesting and overlapping relation, theupper and lower walls 28 and 34 respectively of the corrugations at theleading end resting on top of the corresponding walls of the trailingend, and the offset side walls 30, 32 of the corrugations at the leadingend embracing the corresponding non-offset walls of the trailing end,and with the set back end of the lower flat sheet 14 of the leading endspaced from the lower flat sheet at the trailing end. It will beobserved that the laterally extended marginal edge portions 29 of theupper corrugated sheet are also upwardly offset at the leading end 24 tofit over the corresponding straight portions of the trailing end of anadjacent sheet. Thus, in practice no portion of the ends of connectedunits are in abutting relation so that the transverse edges of the unitsare not required to be cut square but may be slightly irregular,clearance being provided to accommodate such irregularity. Asillustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, in practice it is preferred to maintainthe nominal length of the units such as to provide a nominal amount ofoverlap, herein shown as about 1 /2 inches overlap, and the length ofthe offset portions are preferably such as to provide substantialclearance between the end of one unit and the point where the offsetstarts in the cooperating unit, such clearance being preferably about A:inch. Thus, any irregularities in the transverse edges of the units maybe accommodated by such clearances, and any minor variations in thelength of the sheets or minor variations in field conditions may becompensated for during the erection of the floor by longitudinaladjustment of one unit relative to the other within the limits of suchclearances.

It will be observed that the gap between the end of the set back portionof the lower flat sheet 14 at the leading end 24 and the correspondingsheet 14 of the trailing end of an adjacent unit permits longitudinaladjustment of the units relative to each other and that such gap will beconcealed in the erected floor by the width of the bearing flange of thestructural steel girder 18 upon which the joint rests. It will also beobserved that the corrugated sheets 12 of each unit are maintained attheir full cross sectional area throughout their length, and sincepractically all of the load bearing strength of the illustrated floorunit is contributed by the section modulus of the corrugated sheet, theload bearing properties of the unit are practically unimpaired.

As illustrated in Fig. 2, in erecting the flooring the ends of the unitsare arranged to rest upon the structural supporting girders 18 so thatthe joints occur above the girders and are welded to the girders duringthe progress of the erection. As herein shown, in order to facilitatewelding of the overlapping portions of the bottom walls of the joint tothe girder 18, the exposed overlying offset bottom wall or flangeportions 34 may and preferably will be provided with welding openings 38whereby the underlying thicknesses of the straight bottom walls of thetrailing end and the flat lower sheet 14 may be welded to the girderthrough the openings 38 and then the edges defining the opening may beWelded to the underlying wall to secure the ends in place.

The resulting joint formed by the nesting arrangement of the offset andaligned portions of cooperating units provides substantiallyobstruction-free interior surfaces of the cells through which the wiresmay be drawn, the raw transverse edges of the side walls and upper wallof the trailing end being recessed within the outwardly offset sidewalls 30, 32 and upper wall 28 respectively of the leading end, the flatsheets 14 forming the bottom walls of the cells of adjacent units beingin slightly spaced and aligned relation.

From the above description it will be observed that the presentstructure of end joint for connecting the ends 4 of adjacent cellularmetal floor units of the type disclosed results in the maintenance ofthe full cross sectional area of the corrugated sheets of the units atthe joints whereby the load bearing properties of the units at thejoints are not substantially impaired. Also, the overlapping andlongitudinally adjustable feature of the end joints permits the use ofcellular floor units and of components thereof which are not required tobe resquared or transversely sheared to an exact predetermined lengthduring the production of the units, thereby resulting in substantialsavings in material and labor in the manufacture of the units.

While the preferred embodiment of the invention has been hereinillustrated and described, it will be understood that the invention maybe embodied in other forms within the scope of the following claim.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed is:

In a building construction, a flooring structure comprising a pluralityof multicellular flooring units and a supporting framework, said unitsbeing erected side by side and in end-to-end relation upon thesupporting framework to form the flooring, each of the flooring unitscomprising an upper metal sheet having corrugations and a lower fiatmetal sheet welded thereto and forming transversely spaced andlongitudinally extended cells comprising potential wiring ducts, saidcorrugations each comprising an upper wall, a lower wall, and sidewalls, the transverse marginal edges defining the ends of the sheetsbeing irregular, a first end only of the corrugated sheet of each unitbeing extended longitudinally beyond the corresponding end of the flatsheet thereof, the extended end portion of each corrugated sheet beingprovided with outwardly expanded offset portions in the side wallsthereof and upwardly expanded offset portions in the upper and lowerwalls thereof, respectively, projecting in a direction away from thelower flat sheet thereof, the beginning portion of said extended offsetportions being aligned with the adjacent end of the lower fiat sheet,the corrugations at the second end of each unit being unmodified, thecorrugations at the second end of one unit being fitted in nesting andcontacting, overlapping relation within the extended portion formed bythe outwardly and upwardly offset portions of the corrugations at saidfirst end of an endwise adjacent unit, with the flat lower sheets of theunits longitudinally spaced to provide a gap therebetween and arrangedin the same horizontal plane and resting on the supporting framework,and with the corrugations of the extended end portion bridging the gapbetween the ends of the flat lower sheets of said adjacent units, thelower walls of the corrugations of said extended end portion restingupon and being welded to the lower walls of the corrugations of theadjacent unit and to the underlying fiat sheet and to said supportingframework, thereby forming an overlapping and non-abutting connectingjoint between endwise adjacent units adapted to accommodate theirregular transverse edges of the sheets and to permit longitudinalendwise adjustment of the units to compensate for slight variations inthe lengths of the units, during the erection of the floor.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,939,732 Stresau Dec. 19, 1933 2,125,366 Young et al. Aug. 2, 19382,259,674 Wiesmann Oct. 21, 1941 2,419,996 Honikman May 6, 19472,694,475 Crafton Nov. 16, 1954 2,729,429 Goemann Ian. 3, 1956 FOREIGNPATENTS 502,701 Canada May 18, 1954 OTHER REFERENCES Sweets 1954Catalog, section 2d/Roe, page 9.

